History Books

18986 products


  • CIA Operations in Tibet, 1957-1974: 1957-1974

    Helion & Company CIA Operations in Tibet, 1957-1974: 1957-1974

    1 in stock

    1 in stock

    £16.10

  • Lebanese Civil War: Volume 3 - Moving to War, 4-7

    Helion & Company Lebanese Civil War: Volume 3 - Moving to War, 4-7

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £16.96

  • Ulster Will Fight: Volume 1 - Home Rule and the

    Helion & Company Ulster Will Fight: Volume 1 - Home Rule and the

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £26.96

  • Ulster Will Fight: Volume 2 - The 36th (Ulster)

    Helion & Company Ulster Will Fight: Volume 2 - The 36th (Ulster)

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £26.96

  • Icon Books What's Cooking in the Kremlin: A Modern History

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis'A spicy and original romp through Russian history' ROBERT SERVICE'Poignant, comical, and in the best sense disturbing' PAUL FREEDMAN, AUTHOR OF TEN RESTAURANTS THAT CHANGED AMERICA'This wickedly delicious tale uncovers the secret, gustatory history of the Kremlin and will leave you begging for seconds' DOUGLAS SMITH, AUTHOR OF RASPUTIN: FAITH, POWER, AND THE TWILIGHT OF THE ROMANOVSWhat's Cooking in the Kremlin is a tale of feast and famine told from the kitchen, the narrative of one of the most complex, troubling and fascinating nations on earth.We will travel through Putin's Russia with acclaimed author Witold Szablowski as he learns the story of the chef who was shot alongside the Romonovs, and the Ukrainian woman who survived the Great Famine created by Stalin and still weeps with guilt; the soldiers on the Eastern front who roasted snails and made nettle soup as they fought back Hitler's army; the woman who cooked for Yuri Gagarin and the cosmonauts; and the man who ran the Kremlin kitchen during the years of plenty under Brezhnev. We will hear from the women who fed the firefighters at Chernobyl, and the story of the Crimean Tatars, who returned to their homeland after decades of exile, only to flee once Russia invaded Crimea again, in 2014.In tracking down these remarkable stories and voices, Witold Szablowski has written an account of modern Russia unlike any other - a book that reminds us of the human stories behind the history.Trade ReviewA spicy and original romp through Russian history through the tales and recipes of the cooks who served rulers from Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin -- Robert Service, Oxford University; author of A History of Modern Russia and biographies of Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky and Nicholas IIA riveting account of a uniquely sumptuous cuisine prepared in often grotesque and dangerous settings. Poignant, comical, and in the best sense disturbing -- Paul Freedman, Yale University; author of Ten Restaurants That Changed AmericaThis wickedly delicious tale uncovers the secret, gustatory history of the Kremlin and will leave you begging for seconds -- Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the RomanovsThis book will make your mouth water. Witold Szablowski's delicious dive into Russian imperial history comes complete with recipes for Stalin's favorite Georgian Walnut Jam, the Blockade Bread that people ate during the World War II Siege of Leningrad, and the Turkey in Quince and Orange Juice served to Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in Yalta in 1945. A fascinating and insightful culinary extravaganza that explores how the way to the famed Russian soul has always been through the collective stomach. -- Kristen R. Ghodsee, author of Everyday Utopia, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism, and Red HangoverRiveting - a delicious odyssey full of history, humour, and jaw-dropping stories. If you want to understand the making of modern Russia, read this book. -- Daniel Stone, bestselling author of The Food Explorer and SinkableA captivating, heart-rending, and fascinating book that is more important now than ever with the Ukraine conflict. The chapter about the famine in Ukraine was especially touching for me, as my grandparents and great-grandparents lived through it. You won't be able to put it down! * Tatyana Nesteruk, author of Beyond Borscht and founder of Tatyana’s Everyday Food *I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a chef and the daughter of Soviet Jewish refugees, I have experienced a lifelong fascination with, mingled with repulsion toward, the food on my ancestral table. What's Cooking in the Kremlin gracefully captures this perpetual tension-it is what inevitably arises when an extraordinary cuisine becomes a weapon deployed against the very people who've made it -- Bonnie Frumkin Morales, author of Kachka: A Return to Russian CookingBy turns poignant and playful, What's Cooking in the Kremlin offers an invaluable history of Russia viewed from the kitchen and told through engaging stories and oral histories given by cooks who survived the vagaries of the Kremlin's whims and who toiled through the great afflictions of collectivization, the Siege of Leningrad, the Chernobyl disaster, and more. -- Darra Goldstein, author of A Taste of Russia, The Georgian FeastA culinary travelogue infused with dark and savory legends from Russia's kitchens, dachas, cafeterias, and canteens . . . enriched with recipes gathered during [Szablowski's] travels throughout Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and several ex-Soviet republics. Readers will be satiated by this easily digestible gastronomic history. -- Publishers WeeklyAn original work of social history, Polish journalist Szablowski alternates narrative with interviews (and recipes) to delve into some recondite and often apocryphal stories of the people who cooked for the Russian elite ... A bitter history lesson taught with humor and grace. -- Kirkus Reviews - starred reviewEntertaining . . . A heady mix of propaganda and paranoia . . . [Szablowski writes] sensitively . . . not just about food but also its terrible absence. * The New York Times Book Review *The vignettes in this book reveal a different side to political figures and thereby dent the image they foster. It is hard, for instance, to see Mr Putin in the same way after hearing of his childlike obsession with ice-cream. * The Economist *The great strength of What's Cooking in the Kremlin is the way Szablowski has managed to track down people, many now very old, who have vivid food memories from another time * Daily Mail *Superb on every page * Strong Words *Fascinating tales of hunger and brutality . . . A Studs Terkel history of food, life, death, and dictatorship that's admirable for its honesty, tenderness, and immutable sorrow . . . The oral histories ripple with tension. . . . Delightful * Food & Environment Reporting Network *

    2 in stock

    £17.00

  • GOALKEEPER: Memoir of Poet Peter Street (Games, Secrets, Epilepsy & Love)

    Spondylux Press GOALKEEPER: Memoir of Poet Peter Street (Games, Secrets, Epilepsy & Love)

    2 in stock

    One 'alone, but not lonely' boy's triumph over adversity, motivated by his dream of becoming a professional footballer and a longing for truth and connection. Street's childhood memoir is a sensitive and honest portrayal, through a poetic autistic lens, of growing up with learning differences and epilepsy in an unconventional family during the 1950s and 60s. A unique and vivid social document of the period, highlighting much of the discrimination still faced by minority and disabled communities today.

    2 in stock

    £11.39

  • Descent into Silence: Cawthorne's forgotten

    Scratching Shed Publishing Ltd Descent into Silence: Cawthorne's forgotten

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisNo-one gave a second’s thought to the victims of a mining disaster near the small Yorkshire village of Cawthorne in 1821, even though two were children of just eight-years-old. Former MP David Hinchliffe’s exploration of his family history inadvertently led to the discovery of his collier ancestors’ involvement in the barely recorded and long-forgotten pit tragedy, which occurred amidst of the turbulence of the industrial revolution.The exploration of these two intertwined strands – and a passionate interest in local history in Yorkshire – has enabled him finally to reveal the full details of a melancholy event which devastated the families of the ten who were killed - but caused barely a ripple further afield. Using contemporary reports to help piece the jigsaw together, historical context and detailed genealogical research into the backgrounds of those involved, this account offers a fascinating insight into the lives of working class families across the period, when children as young as five were forced to work underground in order to supplement the household income. The research also illustrates how the split between the businessmen operating local pits, and landowners like the Spencer-Stanhopes of Cawthorne's Cannon Hall, led to an apparent disregard for the safety and wellbeing of the local workforce. The unforgiving inhumanity of the time is underlined by the way the local ‘Overseers of the Poor’ endeavoured to eject two of the victims’ families from the area when they had fallen on hard times after the disaster. And, most ironically of all, how the lauded death of Sir Walter Spencer- Stanhope is recorded in the parish register directly opposite that of the young and until now unheralded John Hinchliffe.

    2 in stock

    £12.99

  • Sylvia Pankhurst: Sexual Politics and Political

    Verso Books Sylvia Pankhurst: Sexual Politics and Political

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisAlong with her mother Emmeline, and her sister Christabel, Sylvia Pankhurst was one of the leading women's suffrage activists in early twentieth-century England, working with the militant Women's Social and Political Union. Unlike her family, however, who looked to parliament and spoke to elite and middle-class women's concerns, Sylvia consistently looked to working women and the labour movement as central to her feminist politics.In this illuminating political biography, feminist historian Barbara Winslow recovers Sylvia Pankhurst's life and work for a new generation of socialists and feminists. From Pankhurst's organizing with immigrant and working women in London's East End to her revolutionary communism and growing internationalism and anti-fascism, Winslow gives us the story of a brilliantly inspiring unorthodox feminist and unorthodox socialist.With a preface from internationally recognized socialist feminist historian and activist, Sheila Rowbotham.Trade ReviewBarbara Winslow not only gives us an impressive account of Sylvia Pankhurst's feminism and socialism; she reveals a forgotten strand of radical politics, extremely relevant today. -- Sheila Rowbotham * Preface *Winslow offers a valuable perspective on a woman who faced challenges of race and sex as she pushed the agenda for social justice in her long political career. * Booklist (review of Shirley Chisholm book) *

    5 in stock

    £16.99

  • Old Wishaw

    Stenlake Publishing Old Wishaw

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £10.95

  • Old Forfar

    Stenlake Publishing Old Forfar

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Currie, Balerno and Juniper Green

    Stenlake Publishing Old Currie, Balerno and Juniper Green

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Portrush, Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway

    Stenlake Publishing Old Portrush, Bushmills and the Giant's Causeway

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Stenlake Publishing Bygone Fraserburgh

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Bangor

    Stenlake Publishing Old Bangor

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Port Glasgow

    Stenlake Publishing Old Port Glasgow

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Bygone Clydebank

    Stenlake Publishing Bygone Clydebank

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old South Uist: with Eriskay and Benbecula

    Stenlake Publishing Old South Uist: with Eriskay and Benbecula

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Ayr Remembered

    Stenlake Publishing Ayr Remembered

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £20.11

  • Old Omeath, Carlingford and Greenore

    Stenlake Publishing Old Omeath, Carlingford and Greenore

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Easter Ross and the Black Isle

    Stenlake Publishing Easter Ross and the Black Isle

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £20.85

  • Old Inverkip, Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay

    Stenlake Publishing Old Inverkip, Skelmorlie and Wemyss Bay

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £12.41

  • Old Dalbeattie and Palnackie

    Stenlake Publishing Old Dalbeattie and Palnackie

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £12.41

  • Old Mardale

    Stenlake Publishing Old Mardale

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • The Lost Railways of Yorkshire's West Riding:

    Stenlake Publishing The Lost Railways of Yorkshire's West Riding:

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Culross, Valleyfield, New Mills and Torryburn

    Stenlake Publishing Old Culross, Valleyfield, New Mills and Torryburn

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £9.00

  • Stenlake Publishing The Place Names of Yorkshire: Cities, Towns,

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £16.10

  • Ireland's Largest Industrial Railway: The

    Stenlake Publishing Ireland's Largest Industrial Railway: The

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £11.35

  • Irish Railway Memories: A Decade of Change -

    Stenlake Publishing Irish Railway Memories: A Decade of Change -

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £12.30

  • R. P. Phillimore's East Lothian

    Stenlake Publishing R. P. Phillimore's East Lothian

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £12.30

  • Old Pinner & Hatch End

    Stenlake Publishing Old Pinner & Hatch End

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £21.38

  • Cumbria Buses: Barrow in Furness - 1948 to 1989

    Stenlake Publishing Cumbria Buses: Barrow in Furness - 1948 to 1989

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Kinross-shire Then & Now

    Stenlake Publishing Kinross-shire Then & Now

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Glen Prosen and Glen Clova: with neighbouring

    Stenlake Publishing Old Glen Prosen and Glen Clova: with neighbouring

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £10.95

  • Old Carradale

    Stenlake Publishing Old Carradale

    2 in stock

    2 in stock

    £11.35

  • Old Bankfoot and Waterloo

    Stenlake Publishing Old Bankfoot and Waterloo

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.35

  • Stenlake Publishing The Islands of Ireland: Their Scenery, People,

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £15.15

  • Alan Godfrey Maps Bristol (SW) & Bedminster 1902: Gloucestershire

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £6.11

  • Wellingborough, Rushden and District 1897: One

    Alan Godfrey Maps Wellingborough, Rushden and District 1897: One

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £6.11

  • Liverpool (Hanover Street) 1864: Liverpool Sheet

    Alan Godfrey Maps Liverpool (Hanover Street) 1864: Liverpool Sheet

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £6.11

  • St. Aubin - Sword and Juno Beaches 1944

    Alan Godfrey Maps St. Aubin - Sword and Juno Beaches 1944

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £7.06

  • Guisborough 1927: Yorkshire Sheet 17.11

    Alan Godfrey Maps Guisborough 1927: Yorkshire Sheet 17.11

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £6.11

  • The Lower Mersey, Runcorn and Warrington 1913:

    Alan Godfrey Maps The Lower Mersey, Runcorn and Warrington 1913:

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £6.11

  • The Last Survivor: The miraculous true story of

    Orion Publishing Co The Last Survivor: The miraculous true story of

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisPerfect for readers of Last Stop Auschwitz, The Volunteer and The Tattooist of Auschwitz'This is an extraordinary biography. A gripping narrative that opens as derring-do wartime escape drama rapidly turns into a horror story about man's inhumanity to man...Important and unforgettable' JONATHAN DIMBLEBYThe awe-inspiring and gripping true story of the young man who survived not one, but three concentration camps, only - in the final days of the war - to be bombed while aboard a Nazi prison boat. Stowed away on top of a train, twenty-year-old Wim Aloserij escapes the obligatory work camps in Nazi-ruled Germany in 1943. The young man from Amsterdam then goes into hiding on a farm - sleeping in a wooden chest hidden underground. But it's not to last.In the cover of night, Wim is captured during a raid and transported to the infamous Gestapo prison in Amsterdam. There, his life changes forever as he is thrown into the nightmare of the Holocaust and transported to Camp Amersfoort - the first of three concentration camps he must endure. Drawing on the lessons he learned as a child as the victim of an alcoholic and abusive father, Wim is forced to adapt quickly and urgently to his hellish surroundings. However, it is with the end of the war in sight, that Wim must draw on every last strength he has when he finds himself caught in the very centre of Allied-Nazi crossfire. At the age of 94, Wim finally felt ready to tell his incredible story, which he kept secret for most of his life. A true story of bravery, courage and resilience, The Last Survivor will leave you amazed by one young man's determination - against the odds - to survive.Trade ReviewThis is an extraordinary biography. A gripping narrative that opens as derring-do wartime escape drama rapidly turns into a horror story about man's inhumanity to man. Vividly told in spare prose, The Last Survivor charts one young man's unspeakable torment at the hands of the SS and his astonishing survival against all the odds. Important and unforgettable. * Jonathan Dimbleby *

    Out of stock

    £8.99

  • Codename Tricycle: The true story of the Second

    Vintage Publishing Codename Tricycle: The true story of the Second

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA wealthy lawyer, debonair ladies' man, consummate actor, and courageous gambler, Dusko Popov played the role of playboy amongst the top echelons of British society to become one of Germany's most trusted spies. In fact, he was one of Britain's most successful double agents, and, some say, the inspiration for James Bond. With full access to FBI and MI5 records, along with private family papers, his incredible adventures can now be told authoritatively for the first time. Recruited by the Abwehr in 1940, 27-year-old Popov immediately offered his services to the British. His code-name was Tricycle. Throughout the war he fed the Germans with a constant stream of military 'intelligence', all vetted by MI5, and came to be viewed as their most important and reliable agent in Britain. But when he was ordered by the Abwehr to the United States to report on the defences at Pearl Harbor, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, failed to heed his warnings, distrusting all spies and detesting Popov in particular, whom he considered to be 'a moral degenerate'. Facing the danger of exposure, arrest and execution on a daily basis, Tricycle went on to build up a network known as the Yugoslav Ring, which not only delivered a stream of false information to Berlin but also supplied vital intelligence to the Allies on German rocketry, strategy and security. After the war Dusko Popov was granted British citizenship and awarded an OBE. The presentation was made, appropriately, in the cocktail bar at the Ritz.Trade ReviewFor anybody interested in the spider's web of war-time deception, in which Popov lighted like an iridescent butterfly, this Tricycle is worth a ride -- Christopher Hudson * Daily Mail *As intriguing and nerve-wracking as [the] subject's career -- Jeremy Lewis * Sunday Times *

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • Visions of Beirut

    Duke University Press Visions of Beirut

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisHatim El-Hibri explores how the creation and circulation of images has shaped the urban spaces and cultural imaginaries of Beirut, showing how images can be used to consolidate or destabilize regimes of power.Trade Review“Hatim El-Hibri weaves a narrative that articulates concealment and infrastructure onto a conceptual terrain that transcends the empirical context of Lebanon. This engaging, groundbreaking, and indispensable book makes a truly meaningful and influential intervention in global media studies, Middle East studies, and urban studies.” -- Marwan M. Kraidy, author of * The Naked Blogger of Cairo: Creative Insurgency in the Arab World *“Visions of Beirut is a compelling work of careful analysis and creative connections that proposes a historically informed set of powerful readings about the transformations of Beirut's public(s) and spaces. Hatim El-Hibri masterfully deconstructs outmoded assumptions about Lebanon's political economy and societies, unravelling instead the everyday visual infrastructures that sustain and reproduce forces such as sectarianism and financialization. The outcome is an important contribution that implores us to think critically about how image, its mediation, and infrastructures are remaking cities in today's world.” -- Mona Fawaz, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the American University of Beirut“Visions of Beirut comes at a crucial moment for the city and for the country, coinciding with the most stringent economic crisis Lebanon has ever faced and in the aftermath of one of the largest nonnuclear explosions ever recorded.... The recent events confirm, once again, El-Hibri’s treatise and the validity of its theoretical framework." -- Aya Jazaierly * Information & Culture *“Visions of Beirut offers a lot to its readers. It will be of great interest to scholars of global media, Middle Eastern studies, and urban studies and will make an excellent addition to many graduate-level syllabi.” -- Blake Atwood * International Journal of Middle East Studies *Table of ContentsNote on Translation and Transliteration vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. The Social Life of Maps of Beirut 21 2. Images of Before/After in the Economy of Postwar Construction 64 3. Concealment, Liveness, and Al Manar TV 105 4. The Open Secret of Concealment at the Mleeta Museum 144 Conclusion 178 Notes 183 References 217 Index 247

    1 in stock

    £17.59

  • Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor

    Vintage Publishing Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisMarcus Aurelius is the one great figure of antiquity who still speaks to us today, nearly 2,000 years after his death. A philosopher as well as an emperor, his was an extraordinary reign. He proved himself a great leader, protecting the Empire from Germans in the North and fighting the Parthians in the East, and his Meditations - compared by John Stuart Mill to the Sermon on the Mount - remains one of the most widely-read Classical books. Impeccably researched and vividly told, Frank McLynn's Marcus Aurelius is the definitive biography of a monumental historical figure.Trade ReviewA compendious and thought-provoking study -- Boris Johnson * The Mail on Sunday *Impressively well-researched and unfailingly engaging -- John Dillon * The Irish Times *McLynn has written a huge, erudite survey of the social, cultural, economic and political world of the second century AD rather than a mere biography of Marcus Aurelius...there is much to enjoy here and even more to be learned * Literary Review *By exposing the real Marcus Aurelius, this biography illuminates an important era of transition...it was under Marcus that the delicate balance was disturbed and this, too, is his legacy. -- Martin Empson * TLS *A flickering torch in the darkness, and with his fine biography, Frank McLynn tends the flame. -- Stephen McGinty * Scotsman *

    1 in stock

    £15.29

  • The Stone and the Wireless

    Duke University Press The Stone and the Wireless

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn the final decades of the Manchu Qing dynasty in China, technologies such as the phonograph, telephone, telegraph, and photography were both new and foreign. In The Stone and the Wireless Shaoling Ma analyzes diplomatic diaries, early science fiction, feminist poetry, photography, telegrams, and other archival texts, and shows how writers, intellectuals, reformers, and revolutionaries theorized what media does despite lacking a vocabulary to do so. Media defines the dynamics between technologies and their social or cultural forms, between devices or communicative processes and their representations in texts and images. More than simply reexamining late Qing China''s political upheavals and modernizing energies through the lens of media, Ma shows that a new culture of mediation was helping to shape the very distinctions between politics, gender dynamics, economics, and science and technology. Ma contends that mediation lies not only at the heart of Chinese media history but of Trade Review“The beauty of Shaoling Ma's inspiring and provocative argument is that it allows for a reconsideration of late Qing culture through a new prism and for the expansion of mediality beyond the familiar confines of Western culture. Offering fresh readings and giving new life to key texts in modern Chinese history and literature, Ma makes an intervention that will force the field of Chinese studies to reassess its methodology and fundamental assumptions.” -- Yomi Braester, author of * Painting the City Red: Chinese Cinema and the Urban Contract *“From late Qing texts and media studies to Marxist criticism and affect theory, The Stone and the Wireless combines different archives, discourses, and theoretical registers in new and exciting ways. This innovative, rich, and intellectually engaging work will appeal to those in Chinese studies and media studies more broadly.” -- Andrea Bachner, author of * The Mark of Theory: Inscriptive Figures, Poststructuralist Prehistories *"Scholars and graduate students interested in global media cultures and media theory will find The Stone and the Wireless a valuable addition to the North American and Western European canon of media theory. This book not only challenges the predominant emphasis on forms and objects, but also constructs a complex web of mediation through its narrative. Chinese notions, texts, and historical contexts serve as the subjects of discussion, not the backdrop. For scholars of world literature, comparative literature, and science fiction, the book offers close readings of untranslated and understudied sources." -- Xuenan Cao * Modern Chinese Literature and Culture *"Connecting history, theory, and area studies, The Stone and the Wireless makes contributions to many fields, including media studies, literary criticism, and cultural studies. It introduces new sources to the study of media history and science fiction history in China. It also provides valuable insights and fresh materials to the global history of technology by investigating the circulation of technical knowledge between new areas and regions." -- Yue Zhao * H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews *"The Stone and the Wireless . . . sets an important example for readership in and beyond the China field that sources such as Guo’s diplomatic diaries and newspaper photojournalism have immense interdisciplinary potential. Using media theory methods, these objects of historical interest can exist within area-specific history and form part of generative, ongoing debates surrounding media and media technology." -- Alina Scotti * Technology and Culture *"Scholars in gender studies and labor history will also be inspired by its discussion of gendered subjectivity and the working masses in Chinese literature. Since our current era is marked by the widespread popularity and significant influence of Artificial Intelligence, general readers will find the debates surrounding the capacity of machines to replicate human cognition and language during the late Qing era very relevant as well." -- Yu Liu * Asian Ethnicity *"Ma’s book is a valuable addition to the growing literature on media in Chinese history. Her focus on the late Qing period, instead of the republican era, is especially worthy of praise. The Stone and the Wireless opens an intellectual space to think about mediation and ponder its strengths and weaknesses as a method. It will be an essential read for Chinese media studies going forward." -- Ulug Kuzuoglu * Cultural Politics *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. The Forms of Media 1 Part I. Jl | Recordings 1. Guo Songtao's Phonograph: The Politics and Aesthetics of Real and Imagined Media 37 2. Stone, Copy, Medium: "Tidbits of Writing" and "Official Documents" in New Story of the Stone (1905–1906) 74 Part II. Chuan/Zhuan | Transmissions 3. Lyrical Media: Technology, Sentimentality, and Bad Models of the Feeling Woman 111 Part III. Tong | Interconnectivity 4. 1900: Infrastructural Emergencies of Telegraphic Proportions 149 5. A Medium to End All Media: "New Tales of Mr. Braggadocio" and the Social Brain of Industry and Intellect 181 Conclusion: Stone, Woman, Wireless 207 Notes 219 Bibliography 261 Index 285

    2 in stock

    £19.54

  • Climatic Media

    Duke University Press Climatic Media

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn Climatic Media, Yuriko Furuhata traces climate engineering from the early twentieth century to the present, emphasizing the legacies of Japan’s empire building and its Cold War alliance with the United States. Furuhata boldly expands the scope of media studies to consider technologies that chemically “condition” Earth’s atmosphere and socially “condition” the conduct of people, focusing on the attempts to monitor and modify indoor and outdoor atmospheres by Japanese scientists, technicians, architects, and artists in conjunction with their American counterparts. She charts the geopolitical contexts of what she calls climatic media by examining a range of technologies such as cloud seeding and artificial snowflakes, digital computing used for weather forecasting and weather control, cybernetics for urban planning and policing, Nakaya Fujiko’s fog sculpture, and the architectural experiments of Tange Lab and the Metabolists, who Trade Review“Climatic Media is a groundbreaking project that will have far-reaching resonances and implications across the humanities and social sciences. Given its critical rigor, deeply engaging analysis, and the wide-ranging readership it forges, Climatic Media is no doubt one of the most exciting books to mark this new decade. This is a field-changing work and a fascinating and extremely rewarding read.” -- Weihong Bao, author of * Fiery Cinema: The Emergence of an Affective Medium in China, 1915–1945 *“Yuriko Furuhata’s Climatic Media is a timely, vital, and urgent book. At a moment of extreme disaster speculation and technophilic ambitions to re-engineer both ourselves and our planet’s climate, this book offers both critique and inspiration. Tracing an alternative Japanese genealogy of climate control, Furuhata convincingly demonstrates how conditioning the climate and conditioning ourselves are joint projects. In exposing the militarized, imperial, and contested epistemologies that construct our contemporary ideas of ecology, she also opens a route by which we might envision and design alternative forms of environmental management, forms that might be more equitable, noncolonial, and diverse.” -- Orit Halpern, author of * Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason since 1945 *“I came away with a newfound appreciation for the hidden nature of atmospheric management that we see but do not see every day. . . . The book is itself a fascinating contribution to science and technology studies, history of science and technology, and cultural and media theory literature, and offers a new way of imagining Japanese history.” -- Fiona C. Williamson * H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews *“Climatic Media sits at the intersection of media studies and the history of science and technology. Furuhata taps into a current trend by looking at climate as media. Highly Recommended.” -- P. L. Kantor * Choice *“[Climatic Media] is an important contribution to our understanding of many aspects of Japanese epistemic communities, the US-Japan alliance, and our current predicament of global warming and potential, man-made solutions. Hopefully, it will help our responses become more thoughtful.” -- Daniel P. Aldrich * Pacific Affairs *“It is the intersection of histories of technology, environmental mediation, and their geopolitical stakes that makes Furuhata’s book so interesting. It taps into such a crucial topic of discussion that it is sure to be widely read and referenced in and outside media studies.” -- Jussi Parikka * Leonardo *“[Furuhata] makes a remarkable contribution to the histories of climate in East Asia —where architecture, weather, and digital computing are reinforced as mutually interdependent discourses that continue to evolve and transform how we think about climate control.” -- Jennifer Ferng * Leonardo *“Those interested in Japanese media studies, theories of elemental/environmental media, and/or transpacific Cold War history will find much to celebrate in Climatic Media. . . . It is an important book that points the way toward a more critically minded mode of environmental scholarship that demonstrates the potentials of adopting a transpacific approach to the tracing of (often surprising) media genealogies.” -- Jon L. Pitt * Journal of Asian Studies *“Climatic Media marvels in its connections. . . . Furuhata’s bid to define climatic media and to establish the ecological and transpacific geopolitical feedback loops that ‘undergird atmospheric control as forms of air conditioning and social conditioning’ becomes a refreshing and necessary endeavor.” -- Laura Beltz Imaoka * Film Quarterly *“A timely and urgent work in our doom-laden age of climate change, [Climatic Media] encompasses not only the air-conditioning of discrete spaces and rooms but also that of climate-controlled shelters and atmospheric control on a geographic scale. . . . With ample original materials and thorough research, particularly the transpacific historical analysis, it gives several clear commentaries on the continuity of science-based technology between the Japanese imperial era and the postwar context.” -- Togo Tsukahara * Technology and Culture *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. Outdoor Weather: Artificial Fog and Weather Control 25 2. Indoor Weather: Air-Conditioning and Future Forecasting 48 3. To the Greenhouse: Weatherproof Architecture as Climatic Media 80 4. Spaceship Earth: Plastics and the Ecological Dilemma of Metabolist Architecture 104 5. Cloud Control: Tear Gas, Cybernetics, and Networked Surveillance 133 Conclusion: Explicating the Backgrounds 166 Notes 177 Bibliography 215 Index 237

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